W. Kordes' Söhne, better known to gardeners simply as Kordes®, is one of the world's major rose-breeding houses. Founded in Germany in 1887, the family business has produced garden, climbing, landscape, patio, cut-flower, and container roses for international markets and today distributes genetics through partners and licensees in dozens of countries.
One of Kordes' most important modern contributions has been its emphasis on natural plant health. In the 1990s the company stopped applying fungicides to its rose trial fields, allowing black spot, mildew, and other diseases to eliminate weaker seedlings naturally. This difficult change ultimately helped produce generations of roses selected for substantially stronger disease resistance. Kordes has also been closely associated with Germany's demanding ADR rose trials and states that it has produced more ADR-winning varieties than any other breeder.
The Kordes® influence appears through several recognizable families, including Parfuma® Roses, Arborose® Climbing Roses, Sunbelt® Roses, Veranda® Roses, Eleganza® Roses, and Fairytale Roses®. Although these collections emphasize different characteristics, from intense fragrance to compact growth or heat performance, they share the larger Kordes breeding philosophy of combining ornamental beauty with strong plants.
